Lowering soil PH - help

BabyFarmer · Sep 1, 2020

Ok, picked up a ph soil tester. Reading is 7.5 at several levels of depth. I just fed her to 10% runoff yesterday and the "run through" measured 7.3 - everything I have given in a month had been PH of 6.4-6.5.

I think she looks hungry because of some lockout issues.

I have no idea how to proceed tho.

Any advise is appreciated. I leave town for 4 days on Sat. And need to have this sorted in some fashion.

Larger leaves showing a bit of clawing and yellowing--browning at edges.

Gashuffer · Sep 1, 2020

Water with a pH of 5.5-6 in normal frequencies until the runoff gets to high 6s. Don’t try and do anything sudden. It’ll come down if you do this. This is not a suggestion to flush, but just slowly adjust.

Madbud · Sep 1, 2020

I think your soil has compacted. Try aerating with a probe. I use a broken golf club shaft. Outside of the box, try watering with a 50% diluted pot of coffee.

Gashuffer · Sep 1, 2020

Madbud said:
I think your soil has compacted. Try aerating with a probe. I use a broken golf club shaft. Outside of the box, try watering with a 50% diluted pot of coffee.

All sorts of uncertainties here....

Beachwalker · Sep 1, 2020

If it's one of those probe type metres it's.. let's be kind and say they're notoriously inaccurate; I wouldn't recommend making changes because of what one of those said

A slurry test is the best way to know your soil PH and PPM, also it looks like you might have a bug issue you might want to check under your leaves with magnification good luck

Cracken · Sep 1, 2020

there looks like a few things that could be wrong but, my initial thought is to flush and then check the PH afer you flush. I have had nute build up before and it caused my PH to go out of wack. I am not an expert at indoor, just adding my thoughts. I started adding a little dolomite lime to my soil at the beginning of the grow and it seemed to help keep my ph down.

BabyFarmer · Sep 1, 2020

Cracken said:
there looks like a few things that could be wrong but, my initial thought is to flush and then check the PH afer you flush. I have had nute build up before and it caused my PH to go out of wack. I am not an expert at indoor, just adding my thoughts. I started adding a little dolomite lime to my soil at the beginning of the grow and it seemed to help keep my ph down.

That's the path I chose. I put only a gallon and a half distilled water ph 6.3 thru the soil. After running controls to ensure accuracy, soil measured 6.8, run-thru 6.5... still 600 ppm left as well.

If lockout was the issue - soil at 6.8 should help there. I'm going to foliar feed with high P (bat guano, etc.) - do nothing until Sat. Check soil PH and give a full feed (900ppm).

Open to thoughts tho...

Thanks!

Beachwalker · Sep 1, 2020

BabyFarmer said:
That's the path I chose. I put only a gallon and a half distilled water ph 6.3 thru the soil. After running controls to ensure accuracy, soil measured 6.8, run-thru 6.5... still 600 ppm left as well.

If lockout was the issue - soil at 6.8 should help there. I'm going to foliar feed with high P (bat guano, etc.) - do nothing until Sat. Check soil PH and give a full feed (900ppm).

Open to thoughts tho...

Thanks!

Distilled water does not have a measurable pH, the pH you think it's reading is very likely incorrect cuz it doesn't have enough measurable ions

I mentioned above a better and more accurate way to take a PH soil test.

BabyFarmer · Sep 1, 2020

Beachwalker said:
Distilled water does not have a measurable pH, the pH you think it's reading is very likely incorrect cuz it doesn't have enough measurable ions

I mentioned above a better and more accurate way to take a PH soil test.

Distilled water definitely takes more patience, but it can be made ph consistent.

I did a slurry test - ph 7.3 ppm 1800

With controls you can trust cheap meters. Just make sure your controls read accurately.

I wonder if the bug thing didnt set this all into motion.... there are none now.

Last week i introduced an AC unit and used Dr. Earths bug killer. I found a half dozen bugs (3 diff species - aphid, spider mites, and some flying thing) - suggested temps in the 60s - so I went 4 days with pretty cool temps at night - humidity 60.

I was gonna hit it with DR earth again Sunday, but I saw no signs of bugs at all... so, I defoliated.

I bumped temps back up to 70s at night and 80s with lights. She wasnt sparkling, I figured temps and pretty heavy defoliation ...

Went to feed Monday and run-off ph was almost a point higher than what I added. I put in 6.4 and got out 7.3. I also noticed about 6 leaves that look kinda sick - not even same "symptoms". --- when I defoliated there wasnt 6 sick leaves on the plant.

Madbud · Sep 1, 2020

Gashuffer said:
All sorts of uncertainties here....

Not really, you could pull that whole root ball out by the stalk. The roots are tight and have stopped growing. The best thing is to aerate, coffee won’t hurt anything. This plant hasn’t been “happy” for weeks.

BabyFarmer · Sep 1, 2020

Madbud said:
Not really, you could pull that whole root ball out by the stalk. The roots are tight and have stopped growing. The best thing is to aerate, coffee won’t hurt anything. This plant hasn’t been “happy” for weeks.

This could actually be dead on. After thinking about it. What is the potential downside if wrong?

I almost upsized the pot - chose to flower instead. How much aeration are we talking? How many holes?

And what specifically do we want the coffee to do here?

BabyFarmer · Sep 1, 2020

BabyFarmer said:
This could actually be dead on. After thinking about it. What is the potential downside if wrong?

I almost upsized the pot - chose to flower instead. How much aeration are we talking? How many holes?

And what specifically do we want the coffee to do here?

She looked pretty happy here. 10 days ago.

Madbud · Sep 1, 2020

Upsizing a photo at this point is probably the best idea, i’ve done it in early flower many times, no problem. Otherwise, carefully poke deep holes with a dull probe, if you feel a big root, back off. Its like fracking a well to access the nutes. The coffee is acidic and adds a quick touch of nitrogen to stimulate uptake.

BabyFarmer · Sep 1, 2020

Any way an organic spider mite/bug spray caused this?

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Madbud · Sep 1, 2020

BabyFarmer said:
She looked pretty happy here. 10 days ago.

Yes she did, maybe you’ve overwatered.
Edit: i’ve pulled plants out of pots like this, see what the soil and roots really look like.

BabyFarmer · Sep 1, 2020

Madbud said:
Upsizing a photo at this point is probably the best idea, i’ve done it in early flower many times, no problem. Otherwise, carefully poke deep holes with a dull probe, if you feel a big root, back off. Its like fracking a well to access the nutes. The coffee is acidic and adds a quick touch of nitrogen to stimulate uptake.

I've got a 10 gallon pot and 2 bags of soil. If she is root bound, this could save the harvest. If she has 3 other issue too, this will kill her.

It would also explain why she dried up in 2 days last week - had been 3-4...

Hmmm

BabyFarmer · Sep 1, 2020

Madbud said:
Yes she did, maybe you’ve overwatered.

Naaa... last week she shocked the shit out of me... she was wilting up after 2 days... I had been watering every 3-4. I think she may be root bound. Could explain all...

Thoughts?

BabyFarmer · Sep 1, 2020

Hmmm... looks like my problem, yeah?

Madbud · Sep 1, 2020

I think you’re on the right track. That grow bag will dry quicker than the pot but four days shouldn’t be a problem. The yellow leaves are a sure sign she started feeding off herself. Not sure i’d leave the fan on while you’re away, might dry out too much. Good luck.
Edit: keep the bag off the floor so there is airflow underneath too. A grill or wood strips will work.

Beachwalker · Sep 2, 2020

BabyFarmer said:
Distilled water definitely takes more patience, but it can be made ph consistent.

I did a slurry test - ph 7.3 ppm 1800

With controls you can trust cheap meters. Just make sure your controls read accurately.

I wonder if the bug thing didnt set this all into motion.... there are none now.

Last week i introduced an AC unit and used Dr. Earths bug killer. I found a half dozen bugs (3 diff species - aphid, spider mites, and some flying thing) - suggested temps in the 60s - so I went 4 days with pretty cool temps at night - humidity 60.

I was gonna hit it with DR earth again Sunday, but I saw no signs of bugs at all... so, I defoliated.

I bumped temps back up to 70s at night and 80s with lights. She wasnt sparkling, I figured temps and pretty heavy defoliation ...

Went to feed Monday and run-off ph was almost a point higher than what I added. I put in 6.4 and got out 7.3. I also noticed about 6 leaves that look kinda sick - not even same "symptoms". --- when I defoliated there wasnt 6 sick leaves on the plant.

My bad I misunderstood I thought you were looking for info, but with three different kind of bugs I guess you got it all handled; good luck with your cheap meters I'm sure they'll work well for you, just like your IPM

Lowering soil PH - help

Lowering soil PH - help

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